The 10 HARDEST Zelda Tears of the Kingdom Bosses And Enemies

10 Toughest Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Bosses & Enemies

Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we’re taking on the 10 Toughest Enemies & Bosses in “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.”

For this list, we’ll be looking at the most challenging combat encounters found in Link’s latest, grandest adventure. However, we’re only looking at new combat encounters; we all know Lynels are hard. If you haven’t fought all the enemies the game has to offer, beware of spoilers ahead.

Which boss or enemy gave you the most grief? Share your pain and thoughts in the comments below!

Gloom Hands

Just as Gaurdians hunted and terrorized us in “Breath of the Wild,” “Tears of the Kingdom” has the Gloom Hands. These nasty baddies always appear in groups and move with surprising speed for something that looks made of slime. Whether you’re on the surface or in the depths, it is always best to keep your distance. If you don’t, they’ll quickly swarm Link, latch on, and immediately begin dealing gloom damage. Getting a higher vantage point and using AOE attacks, like bomb arrows, is a good strategy. Unfortunately, the fight doesn’t end when you’ve killed all the hands as they’ll immediately spawn a Phantom Ganon. He’s not as strong here as his actual boss fight, but that’s still pretty uncool.

Marbled Gohma

Link has fought many different Gohmas, whether she be a spider or some other giant, creepy-crawly thing. This version is fought at the end of the Fire Temple and while it is a fairly straightforward fight, she can mess you up if you aren’t careful. Link will have to heavily rely on Yunobo’s dash ability to break apart its rocky legs. This stuns her, allowing you to climb up and melee the hell out her eye. Of course, she’ll be trying to stomp and drop exploding rocks on you while you aim your ally. She’s on the ceiling for the second phase, which makes lining up your shots a bit trickier, and her explosive boulders will now try to trap you in a circle.

Mucktorok

This weird little guy shows us bosses don’t have to be giant to be intimidating. Or annoying. Fought in this game’s Water Temple, Mucktorok is a perfect name considering it’s an Octorok variant and it covers the arena in sludge. This hazard can be very problematic as it slows Link’s movement and takes away his jump. Sidon’s ability can protect you from it, as can certain resources. That doesn’t change the facts that Muctorok rides a quick-moving sludge shark and can fire a tracking beam. In the second phase, it’ll rain sludge down and mostly stick to those covered areas, still moving quickly and being extra hard to hit. It’s a pretty easy boss to dislike.

Phantom Ganon

In addition to spawning after Link kills Gloom Hands, Phantom Ganon provides a pretty tough boss fight. You’ll fight him once in the Deku Tree Chasm, but the far more challenging encounter happens in Hyrule Castle. Here, he splits into several copies, which is challenging enough. Your Sage companions will rush into the fight, which is nice, but that means you can’t use their abilities unless you jump into the fray as well. Unfortunately, these Phantoms also deal gloom damage, and Link is their main target. Even if you keep your distance, they can also teleport. It shouldn’t be surprising, given the climactic location. But this is probably the hardest the villain’s phantom form has ever been.

The Demon King’s Army

Let’s talk about one of the final big combat encounters in the story. As Link delves deeper into the depths beneath Hyrule in search of Ganondorf, he’ll eventually be confronted by the Demon King’s Army. Similar to encounters with large enemy groups in other sections, the army will have a single health bar to whittle down. However, being in the depths, they will all inflict gloom. It’s best to always be on the move lest Link quickly be overwhelmed. Thankfully, the actual Sages join you in the fight. But you can actually make this part much, much harder on yourself if you reach this area without completing their dungeons. Not only will they not be there, but you’ll then have to fight the bosses you skipped after the army.

Master Kohga

Master Kohga was a bit of a joke in “Breath of the Wild,” so we’re grateful Nintendo beefed him up for the sequel. The leader of the Yiga Clan has been living in the depths ever since falling into a giant hole. While he is fought across four phases, they aren’t in a row. Rather, you’ll find him in different areas for each one. This makes him more manageable, but certain phases are still a challenge. He shows you how irksome it is to face someone with the Ultrahand ability by fighting you in a tank, a glider, a ship, and a construct. That last one is definitely the most troublesome with homing rockets and laser beams.

Queen Gibdo

It was nice seeing the creepy Gibdos make a return, but their queen is the very definition of something that should be killed with fire. Or, in this case, lightning. Link and Riju will get ambushed outside of the Lightning Temple, but the actual battle doesn’t occur until the end. Like some others on our list, the winged behemoth fires a tracking beam that can be fairly annoying. She’ll also produce sandstorms and, during the second phase, spawn hordes of Gibdos. The sheer amount of minions can be a bit hard to deal with as you’ll have to destroy their spawn points to make them stop. And it isn’t as if the Queen lets up on her attacks.

Gleeoks

Just how oldschool Lynels got an upgrade in difficulty for “Breath of the Wild,” the three-headed Gleeoks made us all take notice in “Tears of the Kingdom.” But they are far worse. Although they aren’t as quick as Lynels, Gleeoks can fly and, again, have three heads. They also come in elemental variants of Ice, Fire, and Lightning, aggressively barraging Link with a trio of beams. They are extremely powerful, able to one-shot you during the early hours of the game. After that, though…well, they’re still pretty damn hard. Your best bet is to use the proper damage weapons and armor resistant to their type. Even still, these elite foes will not go down easily without knowing a few tricks.

King Gleeok

What’s worse than a Gleeok? One that holds the power of all three elements, of course! King Gleeok isn’t necessarily fought differently than regular ones. But the problem is that each of its heads uses one of three elements found in the others. Not only does this force you to constantly swap what damage type you’re using, but also your armor to avoid being annihilated by one of its beams. It will also fly up high after you’ve dealt enough damage, where it will spam elemental attacks. There are four of these bad boys to find and they’re all going to pose a challenge. But the absolute worst one is found in the Depths, as it has the added annoyance of inflicting gloom on top of everything else.

Ganondorf

A shocker, I know. The Demon King packs a mean punch, and a few other powerfully annoying skills as well. Similar to some of his past appearances, Ganondorf is fought in a few phases, this time three. The first has a variety of weapons, all of which inflict gloom, and will dodge normal melee attacks, leaving only arrows and the flurry rush as viable options. The second phase is the hardest of the three; your allies can deal with his Phantoms, but he’ll be faster, stronger, and, instead of gloom, will remove hearts if you’re hit, meaning you basically can’t heal. The third phase is an epic, skybound bout against his dragon form, which isn’t nearly as hard as the other two. Still, the whole encounter is a gauntlet you best be prepared for.